About 4 years ago, I moved from one side of the Beltway to the other, but my job stayed on the other side of the Beltway. I had good reasons for this move  namely to be with my honey  but it increased my commute from less than 10 miles to more than 30. Perhaps in a rural area this might not be a huge deal, but in Washington DC, this is a gigantic deal. My commute that had been about 20 minutes, on a bad day, was now an hour on a good day.

To mitigate the commute, I talked to my employer about telecommuting two days per week. I wanted these days to be the same every week so that my managers would always know where to find me (though, one of my “customers” couldn’t seem to figure out the schedule, no matter how often I told him). I decided to telecommute on Mondays and Tuesdays for a few reasons including many of my meetings being on Thursdays and Fridays and wanting two days in a row at home so I could get and keep my momentum. This seemed like a good idea for a long time, except that I ended up commuting Fridays, often at 5 PM (because of a late meeting that couldn’t be moved to any other time). Fridays. On the Beltway. Add an accident or some rain, and my commute would balloon to two hours or more.

In the last couple months, though, my Friday meetings have migrated, and they are now on Mondays. I’ve switched my telecommuting days from Monday and Tuesday to Tuesday and Friday.

Why, oh why, didn’t I push for this sooner?

I left work at 3:30 this afternoon and got home at 4:10. Forty minutes. After 3:30. That’s how long it takes without any traffice. Yay!

I can tell you that I’ll fight any change that requires me to commute Fridays again. I love this, and don’t mind Mondays so much anymore.